"A wiseman?　Didn't you just say that to me?　As I recall, that's .......
'It's one of the aliases that Alfazul has given his name to. Garnett, do you know where this guy's altar is?
Well, in terms of directions, there's ......!　Third floor of the West Wing!

　I immediately left the main hall and rushed out through the crowd of worshippers and tourists to the third floor of the West Wing.

　The West Wing is similar to the main building itself.

　The building itself is similar to the main building in terms of its structure. It has a hierarchical structure with an atrium like the second and third floors of a theater, and in the case of a theater, the altar is laid out in the part of the building that is used as the audience seating.

　We climbed up the stairs along the wall and went straight to the third floor, and hurried to the altar where the Wiseman was enshrined.

　There, I found an unexpected visitor ahead of me.

　A small, elderly nobleman with several guards - someone new to our memories and someone we couldn't possibly mistake for anything else.

''The Duke of Kingswell: ......!

　This is the nobleman who responded to me when I came to King's Landing the day after I came to King's Landing in a great hurry with the answer to His Majesty's proposal.

　It's also the minister who once falsely accused me of killing a brave man, purportedly for self-protection.

　There is no mystery as to why such a person is here ...... or even in the Temple of All.

　It's a good thing that he is a minister or a nobleman, because he is a member of the Kingdom of Westland and is supposed to believe in one of the gods enshrined in the Temple of All.

　The problem is the god enshrined in the temple in front of you.

''Oh. That's an oddity, Luke-kun of the White Wolf Forest.

　Even the Duke seemed to not expect us to show up here, and he turned around with a surprising look on his face.

　However, he immediately showed an expression as if he had reconsidered something and nodded deeply as if he was convinced.

' ...... Even if it was a coincidence that we met up like this, it was inevitable that you guys would visit here.
The Wise Man. ......
Hmm.

　The Duke readily affirmed my statement and sent instructions to his guards with hand gestures to move them to a remote location.

　It's an invitation to talk to each other under undisturbed circumstances, just as it was then.

　I have a dim view that accepting the invitation would be a more advantageous development for the Duke.

　But even so, my choice remained the same.

　I know that the Duke will control how the information is released.
　With that in mind, I'll just make an effort to draw out the necessary information.

''It's simple, though. In the entire region, including my estate, the Wiseman is believed to be the god of knowledge and learning.

　It is unusual but not unnatural for a god to be called by a generic noun, rather than a personal name, as in the name of a god.

　There's a pattern I know of that says, 'I'm in awe of saying God's name lightly, so I called him by a far-fetched alias, and somehow no one knows his real name anymore.

　I don't know if Wisdom Man (Wiseman) falls into that category or not, but it was not an uncomfortable name to call him.

'Scholars, teachers, or those involved in politics are the main believers. As for skills, it seems that [split thinking], [fast thinking], and the more common ones, [appraisal], are also given.
What does the Wise Man (Wiseman) believed in the Dukedom of Kingswell have to do with the Wise Man (Wiseman) that Alfazul took as his alias ......?
I'm sure it would be easy to find out.

　The Duke laughed, his voice hushed, and shook his shoulders.

　-- which, on the flip side, means that the Duke is concerned about whether the two wise men (wisemen) are referring to the same entity, but is having trouble deciding.

But there are too many points of agreement to consider them unrelated.

　Holding up an old, gaunt forefinger, the Duke made the 'first thing' gesture.

"The Wise Man's followers in my lands consider your wanderings in the Millennium Hall of the Abyss to be a labyrinth in which the Wise Man hid the wisdom he judged to be beyond the reach of mortals.
...... The dwarves living in the 'Demon King's Castle Realm' at the far end of it thought of Alfazul as the creator of the labyrinth.
So, yeah?　It's too soon to say that this is the result of a different aspect of actual historical facts, though: ....... Maybe the source of our faith is the same.

　The possibility has emerged that Alfazul, who I had only thought of as being only involved in the labyrinth, was related to the ground in a way I hadn't expected.

　As expected, I couldn't help but feel a kind of eeriness.

　In the scene I saw in my deathbed, Alfazul demanded that I surrender my body to fight the Demon King.

　I couldn't be optimistic that he was going to return it when things were done .......

　In the worst case scenario, we should consider the possibility that he was trying to go to ground with my body.

　...... That much has been assumed for a long time, but I didn't know that he was an object of faith as a god even on earth.

I've been told that if you raid the labyrinth to seek wisdom, a messenger of divine punishment will be sent to the earth.
'You mean the dragons?　I hope you'll give me a break. That would make it sound like I was being punitive, wouldn't it?
'Hahaha!　In fact, they seem to think so. I'm sure they don't know all the details yet, but perhaps you'll be the least appreciated group of people on earth.

　Be careful on the roads at night when you go to the Duke of Kingswell's territory.
　Although I don't have any plans to do so at the moment, but I will make sure to take precautions in mind.

''Be that as it may, I don't think you'd expect it, but the reason why His Excellency the Duke's brother was so obsessed with investigating the 'Thousand Year Corridor of the Abyss' is .......''
It is highly probable, but I cannot say for certain. That my brother believed in the hiding of wisdom is a story that no one but a man of faith would believe, but there is no denying that he did.

　The Duke shook his head with a sigh.

It's a good thing that you can't ignore one more thing: ...... A picture is worth a thousand words. You can see the statue on the altar. It is said to be the image of the wiseman.

　As I was told, I moved my gaze to the altar - and I was speechless.

　A standing statue of an old man wearing a hood that sits on the altar.
　Perhaps it's because it's only an imaginary figure, but the face of the statue doesn't look much like the one I saw of Alfazl.

　The right eye was embedded with a dark blue treasure stone as bright as a flame.

''(Surely ...... this guy can't be ignored, right? ......)''

　I involuntarily press my own eyes with my hand.

　The mysterious power that I tentatively call the Right Eye of Wisdom, which I believe was given to me by Alfazul.

　It is a mass of magical power like a blue flame that can 'understand' what you see, activated by disassembling and dedicating your right eyeball - it was obvious that the jewel in the statue resembled it.

'...... My lord. I have one question.
Tell me.
Why didn't you bring this up when we first met?

　The Duke moved his eyebrows as if to say the question was unexpected, and returned the answer without any hesitation at all with a smile on his mouth.

''It is in the interest of time that I didn't tell you on this last occasion. It's only because of time constraints that I didn't talk about it on this occasion, and since we'll be friends for a long time to come, I thought I'd take a look at it at some point.
'Well, thank you very much for that ......

　It's a plausible reason.
　Even if it was actually more convenient not to tell you, it can be uncomfortably deceptive.

I'm sorry, but it's time to go. I'll see you soon.

　The duke broke off the conversation unilaterally and went back to his guards waiting at a distance.